29-FEB-2012
29 February and the Grey Wagtails take over the nest.
It's Wednesday 29th Feb, an unusual day, but glorious. Clear air, clear skies and a nice feel about spring with the sun shining and the dampness of early morning. Light-wise this is a perfect day and the sun illuminated the scene in front of me beautifully.The Dippers are really foxing me though, early on there were no signs whatsoever and even on a walk down stream I couldn't find them…. a total mystery and I am beginning to doubt that they are going to use this nest. I have't seen them going in for two days now and then just the male who was, as you may remember surprised to find the male Grey Wagtail there. Dipper territories can be large, I was hopeful that they would suddenly "fly in" which is often the case.
The Grey Wagtails are very interesting though. I saw them up in the nest several times and the way it happened needs some mention. The male was calling loudly and displaying up and down the river doing a little parachute flutter as he landed on various prominent boulders until after a few minutes the female showed up. That was his cue and he immediately flew to the "Dipper"nest and started to call to her. She didn't respond however and they both then moved out of the territory. Then a few minutes later he returned and perched on to roots that are growing around the nest (see photo) and continued to call to her.
The Dippers put in an appearance at midday, one flying up river strongly and then the other, probably the female, was feeding not too far down stream but she eventually flew in the direction of the male. They both avoided the nest!
28-FEB-2012
28 February 2012
The 28th of February was an odd day. it was miserably overcast but unusually warm for the time of year. I toyed with the idea off giving it a miss today but I was anxious to try and work out what's going on at the nest. It was another earlier start for me and I was at the site by 8.30. A Dipper flew upstream at 8.38 calling loudly and at 8.57 it flew down again quickly, again calling loudly. I have seen this behaviour before when the male seems to patrol his territory, always calling as he flies by. I can't explain why, but I had a pessimistic vibe about today, I feared that they are nesting elsewhere after seeing the female collecting moss from just in front of me yesterday and then flying away down stream with it and then later seeing her with an empty beak? Lots of questions still to be answered. The usual format is silence and no activity followed by the sudden arrival of the birds so there is always hope. I did have a close encounter with the male Dipper in the afternoon, but neither the male or female came to the nest today. The Grey Wagtails both turned up at the nest though, and the male proceeded to carry nesting material in to the area of the Dipper nest, building has begun. I am not sure whether the Wagtails have put the Dippers off using last years nest. I am yet to discover if that proves to be the case, if it does I will have some interest in the form of breeding Wagtails at least. They are a nice species and I will make the most of this opportunity to get to know them better.
27-FEB-2012
27 February and the Wagtails in the Dipper nest.
My early start paid real dividends this morning and by 9.05 I had enjoyed all the protagonists at the nest site including my first fly-by Kingfisher since I started this project, I had been wondering why I hadn't seen one yet. The most interesting occurrence of the day was the arrival of the male dipper who landed on his favoured boulder as normal. What he didn't know was that the Grey Wagtail male was up in the nest. He quickly exited the nest followed by the Wagtail. I wouldn't say that there was conflict at all, just a surprise for the Dipper. It wasn't long before he returned and then he was joined by the female and he displayed to her (see photo) as she landed.
There was lots of activity from a pair of Grey Wagtails, and their breeding activity is really ramping up and they seem to be constantly chasing and displaying. As yet I haven't seen them carrying any nesting material, but I am certain that will happen very soon. At the end of the morning the female Diper arrived and immediately began to pluck moss from the favourite boulder. I expected her to take it up to the nest but oddly she flew downstream with it. Very strange behaviour, either thee is another nest or this is a distraction/devensive ploy. I hope the later is the case. It would be odd I am sure if they were both coming and going to this nest but building another nest nearby. I am sure that I will find out sooner or later.
27-FEB-2012
Finally one of the pair, or even a third Dipper arrived on the waterfall and I managed a flight shot at last. A bit more work needed.
26-FEB-2012
26th February and Grey Wagtails in the Dipper nest?
It was about 8.45 when I walked to the hide. As I approached, but not quite there, I disturbed one Dipper, and then a second, this one carrying nesting material. They both flew down stream and I expected them both, in time, to make there way back to the nest site. I set up a remote camera, I was excited to see how that worked out. At 9.36 Some really interesting behaviour happened, not with Dippers but Grey Wagtail. I am pretty sure that they are also contemplating the Dipper nest site as well. The male Grey Wagtail investigated the under the bank where the Dipper nest is. There was lots of calling and a lovely display flight to the female who also appeared, close to the hide. Then the male perched very close to me, only a foot or so away, investigating the roots of the tree that I was sat by. They are definitely searching for a suitable nest site. It would be good if they chose to breed here as well. Very early in the morning, even though we have a great sunny day, the light is too dull for decent photographs, as the sun continued to climb in the sky it had brightened considerably.
The Grey Wagtail continued to sing and display which was something to watch at least and then the female joined the male up inside the overhang. Quite what would be the outcome if the wagtails took over the Dipper nest I don't know? There was till no Dippers at 10.00 but the Wagtail sang constantly and very close by. He was certainly responding to the sunny day and feels that spring has arrived I am sure.
6 minutes later the male Dipper eventually turned up on the waterfall and started to sing away. He then flew immediately to the favoured boulder in front of the nest and carried on his tune! A knowing glance up to the nest and then he moved off walking down stream only to fly back up and past me and the waterfall to land just beneath me but out of sight. At that point, still no female but later she arrived on the waterfall and started to feed giving tremendous views of her. It was interesting to see that, even though I couldn't see him, I knew that the male had joined her. Her demeanour changed and she looked excitedly for nesting material. This activity seemed to be stimulated by the male's singing. She flew over to the boulder, by now the male had gone in to the nest but she flew off quickly down stream. This surprised me but to my recollection, I have not seen both in the nest at the same time, both this year and last. This probably explains why she left. All in all it was a pretty special session.
26-Feb-2012
He has a look up towards the nest before flying up.
24-FEB-2012
24 February 2012
I was set up today by 9.40, a little later than I would have preferred. It was quiet with no sign of Dippers! The weather was bright with clear sky and scattered clouds, it was unusually warm for the time of year. The water level has dropped slightly and returned to normal, important because some of yesterday's submerged boulders were now exposed again. These boulders make ideal perches for Dippers and Wagtails. I had seen a pair of Grey Wagtails on the walk down and now other birds were singing loudly around the hide. It is almost spring after all. 20 minutes or so later and a pair of Goosanders flew upstream and past the hide giving me extremely close views of this interesting fish-eating duck. They are known as sawbills because of the serrated edges to the bill which enables them to hold on to their slippery fish prey. They are reviled by game anglers because of their preferences for the same kinds of habitat and water that is also preferred by Salmon and Trout so you can guess the conflict issues that arise. When Goosanders flew past me last week in the same manner they eventually made their way back to me in front of the hide but unfortunately I wasn't able to picture them. I am hoping this isn't going to be the case today. At 10.24, still no Dipper which is quite normal. The time had moved on to 11.27 and at last I had a Dipper in my sights. Not actually with me yet but about 200 metres down stream. This usually means that it would make it's way up to this favourite area of river........ and hopefully the nest site! When it did, I was ready, the light had improved a little. I could actually see the bird feeding now. It had just flown from it's bank side perch and flopped in to the water to feed in the usual fashion. I could only see one but just lately they are never too far from each other. It was much closer now sitting on a favoured midstream boulder and dealing with something it had just found. At 11.35 I have lost sight of it........ but there it was again now even closer........ just as expected.
I stopped writing at that point because It was starting to get interesting. Suddenly the one was joined by his/her mate and then the male flew on to the branch below. He spent a few minutes nonchalantly preening and trying to make out that he wasn't interested. Then after several minutes the female suddenly came in to view very close behind with a beak full of nesting material. They then both flew to the boulder even nearer to me and then she was up in to the nest to deposit the nesting material. He immediately left the nest site and she disappeared yet again without me seeing her leave. A few minutes later a Dipper flew from upstream and back down river, probably to join up with it's mate. What a thrill, nest building, which is said to take up to three weeks to complete, is going well. I have no idea if this is earlier than last year. In 2011 the first eggs was laid on March 26, a month off yet. As usual when I left in the early PM, they were both way up river, away from the nest. In the meantime I saw the female carrying nesting material but she didn't bring it to this nest, is this just a defensive ploy to confuse watching predators?
24-Feb-2012
Keeping watch over the nest.
24-Feb-2012
Preening
A ploy to distract predators from the nest.
24-Feb-2012
The male greets his mate.
As the breeding season gets under way in ernest, I am hoping to film more of this wing fluttering posture.